Greens MP Gabrielle de Vietri banned from parliament after climate protester selfie

A Victorian Greens MP has been banned from parliament for two days without pay after posing for a selfie with student climate activists who disrupted Question Time.

Climate change protesters unfurl banners in the public gallery of Victoria parliament during Question Time. Picture: Ian Currie

A Victorian Greens MP has been banned from parliament for two days without pay after posing for a selfie with student climate activists who disrupted Question Time.

It came after three student activists staged a protest on Tuesday to promote the upcoming Schools Strike 4 Climate rally.

The young trio unfurled posters from the public gallery – including one which read “coal + gas kills us” – and sang a jingle to the room of MPs.

The four Greens MPs then posed for a selfie with the students mid-protest.

Speaker Maree Edwards ordered all MPs to leave the chamber while the youths were escorted from the parliament by police.

Labor and Liberal MPs teamed up on Wednesday morning to vote to have Richmond MP Gabrielle de Vietri thrown out after she breached parliamentary rules by photographing the public gallery.

The Greens MPs pose for a photo with the climate protesters.

On Tuesday afternoon, the protesters sang: “History will remember you. Which side are you on?”

Speaker Maree Edwards ordered all MPs to leave the chamber while the trio was escorted from the parliament by police.

The state’s four Greens MPs were seen smiling at the protesters, prompting anger from Labor MPs.

Question time abruptly adjourned after protestors unfurl banners and start chanting. #springst. pic.twitter.com/9LCFD2taC0

— Shannon Deery (@s_deery) November 14, 2023

“Courageous school strikers demanding and end to coal and gas and a safe climate future,” Ms de Vietri posted on X, formally known as Twitter.

“Question Time shut down and protesters removed by PSOs. When the future of the planet is at stake, business as usual is no longer tenable.”

On Wednesday, Ms de Vietri refused to apologise for taking the photo and then sharing it on social media.

In the post, she called the school strikers “courageous”.

Every lower house MP – with the exception of Ms de Vietri’s three other Greens colleagues –voted for her to be suspended without pay.

Once the vote was counted 75-4, Ms de Vietri stood up and pointed to a school group watching on in the public gallery and said “this is for their future”.

Ms de Vietri said her parliamentary ban was “inconsequential to the climate crisis”.

She defended taking a selfie and posting it online, saying it was “alarming” that Labor and the Liberals were focused on that rather than the climate concerns of a “growing chorus” of young people.

“Democracy relies on us being able to communicate what happens in parliament. That climate protest happened in parliament for a reason. Kids are desperate to convey their fear about what kind of future they are facing,” she said.

“In a climate crisis, we can no longer support business as usual. I support every single school student who is striking on Friday for a safe future.”

Shadow Attorney-General Michael O’Brien on Wednesday said it was unacceptable to disrupt the workings of parliament.

“The behaviour that we saw today from the Greens political party member for Richmond — if you want to act like that, go back to student politics,” he said.

“This is a grown-up parliament (with) grown-up people dealing with serious issues.”

Federal Greens MP Adam Bandt and Gabrielle de Vietri at the Remembrance Day service at Barkly Gardens. Picture: Instagram

Ms de Vietri was also forced to defend her actions over the weekend after she was “heckled” at a local Remembrance Day service by some of the attendees for making pro-Palestinian remarks.

The Greens MP, who won the seat of Richmond at the 2022 state election, spoke at the service run by the City of Yarra and held at Barkly Gardens.

Richmond RSL president Gareth Ward, who also spoke at the event, said her comments were “disappointing” and “not appropriate” for the event.

“She got emotional about what’s occurring in Palestine and Gaza,” he said.

“It was disappointing she politicised it in that context.

“Remembrance Day is about Remembrance Day, about the past, the fallen.”

Mr Ward said some people in the crowd started heckling and yelling out: “What about the hostages?”

But Ms de Vietri said her speech was about how Remembrance Day is not only for grieving the lives lost in conflicts past, but also the lives lost in the Gaza-Israel conflict.

“The premise of remembering is that as long as we remember we won’t make the same mistakes again, but it seems in recent weeks we have forgotten this,” she told the Herald Sun.

“Today we mourn the loss of all lives and the devastation that war brings.

“That’s why the Greens will continue to call for an immediate ceasefire and an end to the invasion and occupation of Palestine.”

Mr Ward conceded Ms de Vietri did begin her speech by talking about Remembrance Day.

“But she was a little bit too much about the current circumstances,” he said.

Federal Greens MP Adam Bandt also spoke at the event.

Ms de Vietri, who was formerly the Yarra mayor, gave a speech in state parliament in October calling for a ceasefire.

“Western governments, including this one, have declared support for the genocide and the dispossession of Palestinian people under the guise of self-defence,” she said.

“I stand in solidarity (with) the movement for a free Palestine, for lasting justice and peace.”

She was heckled by Labor and Liberal MPs in the chamber.

Greens MP Gabrielle de Vietri durinng Question Time. Picture: Nicki Connolly

Speaking outside parliament, the three students, who took the day off school to protest, said they were hit with a seven-day ban from the parliament.

Student organiser Diana, who did not wish to provide her surname, said young people should not have to resort to protesting.

“It was to get the word out to get our message across not only to the world but also the parliamentarians who are meant to be representing us, and not only the people voting, but the young people as well,” she said.

“I think the reason that students are taking time off school is because when politicians aren’t listening to the educated – people who have been in the field of researching climate catastrophes for decades – what’s the point of me going to school?”

Joey added: “We’re not the ones who need to be taught a lesson here. It’s the politicians in this parliament who need to be taught the lesson that fossil fuels are not OK.”

Protester and school strike media spokesman Myles Wilkinson, 16, urged all students to attend the upcoming rally.

“The government is supposed to protect its people but instead it’s allowing and funding the continued extraction, exportation and burning of fossil fuels driving the climate crisis which threatens every species on the planet, including us,” he said.

“We have come to parliament today to demand an end to all new coal and gas projects in Australia.”